I don’t know about you, but I’m a little surprised to find that the Greatest Sporting Event In The History Of Civilization has been suffering through a decline in TV viewership.

… The stakes this year are high for the network, which has seen ratings for the men’s Division I tourney decline 12% during the past three years. Last year brought an average 6.1 rating for all games, the second-lowest rating in the 25-year history of CBS televising the tournament…

Like this:

One response to “I guess people got tired of Joaquim Noah.”

2007:
I think we all knew Florida was going to win, despite playing erratic ball down the stretch in the regular season. As much as people like Mark Bradley want to annoint that Gator team as one of the greatest ever, their half-assedness in about 60% of their games will be what I remember them for. Blown out at LSU and UT? Losing to Florida State? Not the stuff of legends. So yeah, knowing that a team’s gonna win it all and that this team doesn’t really care will put a damper on things. And they did just that- screwed around against Purdue, required a horrible foul call against Bradley, screwed around against Oregon…

2006:
Take that theory and apply it to UCONN…only they lost. And although George Mason/UCONN was one of the most satisfying tournament upsets ever, it’s been proven a litany of times that Whocares State vs. Big U., even if it’s an upset, won’t notch huge ratings (recall that Boise/OU didn’t have a lot of viewers). All the heavy hitters were out before the Final Four; Florida/UCLA/LSU/GMU sounded like a good preseason NIT slate at best. Plus, the NCAA letting in about 50 mid-majors didn’t help ratings.

2005:
Hmm, not entirely sure. Illinois lost only once before the tournament, but never really looked like the world-beaters their record portrayed them as. That UNC team was very good, but not great. Betcha can’t name all five starters. (I can, but I’m originally from the Triangle.) This probably doesn’t matter at all, but the NCAA picked some really really weird regional final sites that year. The Pit, Carrier Dome, Rosemont Horizon, Erwin Center…sounds very 1987.